Improving Undergraduates’ Motivation and Retention in STEM Through Classroom Interventions: A Meta-Analysis

通过课堂干预提高本科生学习 STEM 的积极性和保留率：荟萃分析

• 批准号: 2110368
• 负责人: David Miller
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-01 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2110368&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Improving; Undergraduates; Motivation; Retention; STEM

This project aims to serve the national interest by synthesizing empirical evidence on how classroom interventions can increase motivational outcomes (e.g., interests) and retention for undergraduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The project focuses on approaches to foster success for undergraduates who have been traditionally underrepresented in STEM (e.g., women; Black, Hispanic, and American Indian students; students from low-income families; first generation students). Low rates of STEM degree completion for these groups continue to hinder institutional efforts for educational equity and national efforts to address STEM workforce needs. Encouragingly, growing research evidence suggests that malleable instructional practices and light-touch motivational interventions can increase the achievement, motivation, and retention for such students. This project aims to build on and extend related prior syntheses in several critical ways by (a) synthesizing a wider range of interventions that occur in undergraduate STEM classrooms; (b) focusing on effects for motivational factors related to retention and actual retention in STEM as primary outcomes (rather than academic performance in STEM courses); and (c) identifying specific intervention components that yield the strongest effects. The project’s focus on interventions tested in undergraduate classrooms will help provide STEM professors with actionable insights for designing their classes and changing their instruction to increase undergraduates’ motivation and retention in STEM. This project aims to contribute both theoretically and practically to the field by synthesizing two largely separate bodies of literature on undergraduate STEM classroom interventions: (a) motivational interventions (e.g., values affirmation) and (b) instructional interventions (e.g., active learning). The synthesis will include both experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations of these interventions, focusing on effects for retention (e.g., taking the next STEM course, graduating with a STEM degree) and motivational factors related to retention (e.g., interests, self-efficacy, sense of belonging). The project team will use rigorous systematic review and meta-analytic methods to improve transparency of the review process, reduce reviewer bias, and ensure the project’s findings are robust and comprehensive of existing evidence. Statistical analyses will investigate how intervention design features, student demographics, and the implementation context may help explain why some studies show stronger effects than others. The project team will leverage university partnerships, peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and media outlets to broadly disseminate findings to researchers and practitioners, promoting evidence based classroom practices at scale. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目旨在通过综合经验证据来满足国家利益，以表明课堂干预如何增加动机成果（例如，利益）和对科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）领域的本科生的保留。该项目的重点是为在STEM（例如妇女；黑人，西班牙裔和美洲印第安人的学生；来自低收入家庭的学生；第一代学生）的本科生培养成功的方法。这些群体的STEM学位完成率低继续阻碍了教育公平和国家为满足STEM劳动力需求的国家努力的努力。令人鼓舞的是，越来越多的研究证据表明，可延展的教学实践和轻巧的动机干预措施可以增加此类学生的成就，动力和保留。该项目旨在通过（a）综合本科STEM教室中发生的广泛干预措施，以几种关键的方式建立和扩展相关的先前合成； （b）关注与保留率和在STEM中的实际保留有关的动机因素的影响（而不是STEM课程中的学术表现）； （c）识别产生最强影响的特定干预组件。该项目的重点是在本科教室中测试的干预措施，将有助于为STEM教授提供可行的见解，以设计其课程并改变其教学，以增加本科生在STEM中的动力和保留。该项目旨在通过综合两个在本科STEM课堂干预的文献中综合两个很大程度上分开的文献范围来贡献理论和实际对该领域的贡献：（a）动机干预措施（例如，价值观影响）和（b）教学干预措施（例如，主动学习）。该综合将包括对这些干预措施的实验和准实验评估，重点关注保留效应（例如，参加下一个STEM课程，以STEM度毕业）和与保留有关的动机因素（例如，利益，兴趣，有效，自我效益，属于归属感）。项目团队将使用严格的系统审查和荟萃分析方法来提高审查过程的透明度，减少审查者偏见，并确保项目的发现稳健且全面地证据。统计分析将调查干预设计特征，学生人口统计以及实施环境如何有助于解释为什么某些研究表现出比其他研究更强的影响。项目团队将利用大学合作伙伴关系，同行评审的期刊，会议和媒体渠道，向研究人员和实践者广泛传播发现，从而大规模促进基于证据的课堂实践。 NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习轨道，该计划支持了承诺实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估审查标准，被认为是珍贵的支持。